Tribes from the Stone Age live through it all

Aboriginal tribesmen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands who officials feared might have been wiped out have almost certainly survived the disaster.

The five tribes, which total only 800 individuals, exist in designated reserves set up to protect social and cultural traditions that have persisted since Stone Age times.

Prof Ram Kapse, the lieutenant governor of the islands who returned from a three-day boat tour of the worst-affected areas yesterday, said that almost all the tribes had now been contacted.

Many, like the Great Andamanese, who live on Great Andaman Island and number only 49, took refuge in the dense rainforest that covers much of the archipelago, he said.

An Australian, Wayne Harrigan, 46, who was staying on Little Andaman, reported that the Onge, of whom 98 survive, had done similarly.

"Several people from our camp went to check on them and they had clearly survived, even though Dugan Creek, where most of them live, was devastated," he said.

"They must have taken shelter inland."

Of the other tribes, the Shompen, thought to number 13, have yet to be contacted, but they are known to live in hilly areas and officials said there was "no reason for apprehension" regarding their safety.

The Jarawa, a hunter-gatherer tribe who were nearly made extinct by an outbreak of measles in 1999, have also reported in through intermediaries known as "tribal captains".

The tribe, whose lands were suffering encroachment from settlers and logging operations, were protected in 2002 by an Indian supreme court ruling that all roads to settlements should be blocked.

A ship is currently en route to the most hostile of the tribes, the 300-strong Sentinelese, who live on North Sentinel Island and have a reputation for firing arrows at anyone who approaches.

This island is well north of the worst-affected areas.

"Given the status of other islands nearby, which have suffered some damage but small loss of life, we have no reason to fear for the Sentinelese," Prof Kapse said.

Measures such as the closing of the Jarawa road have been taken recently to protect the tribes who some anthropologists believe represent one of the key links in the chain of human evolution.